N e w s f o r t h e f r i e n d s o f B OT A N I C A
FALL 2013
Emil and Nancy Graeser Pledge
a $225,000 Matching Grant
Welcome, Kasey Maier!
Founders’ Garden Opens
at the Heigold House
Helen Burns Harrigan –
A Garden Visionary
A Quick Look at the
Missouri Botanical Garden
Plant Spotlight: Serviceberry
Thank You to our Supporters
Pictured:
The Opening
Reception of the
Founders’ Garden at
the Heigold House
Façade, May 2013.
2
President’s Note –
FALL 2013
O U R V ISIO N
Dear Friends,
To create a botanical
garden andconservatory of
extraordinary beauty that
engages, enlightens and
inspires peopleabout
plants and nature.
B O A RD OF
DIRE C TORS
OFFICERS
Brian Voelker, President
Mike Kimmel, Vice President
Margaret (Peggy) Grant, Secretary
Gordon Peterson, CPA, Treasurer
Directors
Kristen Augspurger
John Callaway
I hope you’ll join me in celebrating
Botanica’s biggest achievement to date!
This past June, Mayor Greg Fischer and I
signed the land-use agreement between
Botanica and Metro Louisville, committing
the 23-acre site at Frankfort Avenue and
River Road to become the future home of
the Waterfront Botanical Gardens!
As every gardener knows, you need land
to grow a garden, and this agreement
shows the growing support among our community and its leaders to
create a botanical garden near downtown Louisville. With the formal
commitment of the property secured, our Board of Directors is ready to
move ahead with significant investment in the site.
The next major step is to get the former landfill site approved for use. We
know a lot about the property from water and soil samples taken in recent
years, and we are currently conducting a comprehensive environmental
analysis – the first step in determining exactly what will be involved in
reclaiming the site. The analysis will identify what remains in the landfill
today and what we will need to do to make it safe for construction and
our future visitors.
Dominic Gratto
Bob Hill
Judith P. Hunt, President Emeritus
Richard Johnson
Alexandra Luken
Mary Beth O’Bryan
Michael Tigue
Dot Wade
Kathy Ferguson Yerrid
Botanica has also started the process of selecting the project’s landscape
and architectural design firms. We will work with those firms over the
next several months as we put together all of the design details for the
Waterfront Botanical Gardens project.
We are making great progress on the botanical garden effort – and we
couldn’t have done it without your help. I hope you’ll consider supporting
Botanica with a donation. Your gift will help us take the next step toward
making the Waterfront Botanical Gardens a reality!
Happy gardening,
GET INVOLVED
TODAY AT
WaterfrontGardens.org.
BECOME A MEMBER
VOLUNTEER
MAKE A DONATION
Brian Voelker
President, Board of Directors
P.S. There’s no better time to make a donation than now! Be sure to
check out Emil and Nancy Graeser Pledge a $225,000 Matching Grant
on Page 3 to learn about how you can double the impact of your gift!
INBLOOM FALL 2013 3
Emil AND Nancy Graeser
Pledge A $225,000 Matching GraNT
e are thrilled to share some very
exciting news! Two longtime
Botanica supporters, Emil and
Nancy Graeser, have been so
inspired by the vision of creating
a botanical garden in Louisville, and so excited with
the recent progress made on the project, that they
have decided to give a $225,000
matching grant to
Botanica. That means that
any donation to Botanica
and the Waterfront
Botanical Gardens effort
will be matched, dollar for
dollar, up to $225,000!
Emil hopes that others in the community will join his
support for the project. “We believe that Louisville
should have a viable botanical garden that would be
available for the education of children, the enjoyment
of its citizens, the attraction of visitors and the
enhancement of the city,” he said.
“Emil and Nancy’s
generosity is truly inspiring.
It means so much to us,”
said Brian Voelker, President
of Botanica. “The Graesers’
gift is one of the largest
in Botanica’s history. Their
support at this early stage
in the garden’s development
will have a lasting impact
on what our community can
accomplish.”
Here’s how it works: If an
individual makes a $250
donation, that gift will be
matched by $250 from the
Graesers’ matching grant.
Because of the match, the total
impact of the gift is $500.
If you’ve thought about making
a donation to Botanica, there’s
no better time than now.
It’s a great way to double
the impact of your gift –
no matter the size!
To make a donation, use
the giving form on Page 4
of this newsletter, call
502-276-5404 or visit us online
at waterfrontgardens.org.
WELCOME, KASEY MAIER!
Botanica is pleased to announce that Kasey Maier has joined our organization as
Director of Program Development. Most recently, Kasey spent three-and-a-half
years with the Kentucky School of Art at Spalding University. She was a founder
of the school, and served as the administrative director. Prior to that, she was in
the banking and investment industry.
Kasey will be focused on program development, fundraising, community
awareness, board development and more. You may contact Kasey by e-mail
at [email protected].
4
Founders’ Garden Opens at the Heigold House
In May, Botanica was delighted to host the opening
of the Founders’ Garden at the Heigold House. The
garden, located at the intersection of River Road and
Frankfort Avenue, is the result of many months of
planning, generous giving, excellent garden design
and much collaboration with public officials. The
Heigold House façade is what remains of the home
built by Christopher Heigold in the neighborhood once
known as the Point. The remains of the house were
relocated after the neighborhood was destroyed in the
devastating 1937 flood.
The design of the garden, a creation of Karen
Bohannon, is a period-inspired piece. She sought to
re-create a garden that would have been typical of
homes such as this one at the time it was built – in
the style, layout and plants selected. The Founders’
Help us meet
the matching
grant – support
us today!
By making a donation, you’ll be
playing a critical role in helping
to make the gardens a reality.
All donations will be matched –
dollar for dollar – up to our
matching grant total of $225,000.
MAKE A DONATION
•Online at WaterfrontGardens.org
•Mail completed form to:
Botanica
P.O. Box 5056
Louisville, KY 40255-0056
Garden is the first step in the creation of the much
larger Waterfront Botanical Gardens to be built – the
site for which is located immediately to the east of the
Founders’ Garden on the a 23-acre site that used to be
the Point neighborhood, where the Heigold House and
many others like it once stood.
We look forward to seeing the Founders’ Garden
grow and mature – much as we look forward to seeing
the Waterfront Botanical Gardens become a reality!
Many thanks to our garden designer, Karen Bohannon;
our plant supplier, Hidden Hill Nursery and Sculpture
Garden; the evening’s sponsors: Sea Ray of Louisville,
Sonoma-Cutrer, Korbel California Champagne and
the many individuals who made a donation to support
the garden!
Donations
$1,000
$750
$500
$250
$150
Other
Memberships
$25 Individual
$35 Family
$35 Business/Organization
Total: $
Brick Inscription: For donations of $100 and above, receive your
name on a brick in the Founders’ Garden. Maximum three lines of
13 characters each, including spacing and punctuation:
Name
Address
City State E-Mail Phone
ZIP
Payment
I have enclosed a check made payable to Botanica.
Visa/MasterCard
Botanica Inc. is a 501(c)(3) Not-for-Profit
organization. Your donation is tax-deductible
to the extent allowed by law.
$100
Credit Card Number
Expiration Date
Signature
Security Code
INBLOOM FALL 2013 5
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6
HELEN BURNS HARRIGAN –
A GARDEN VISIONARY BY ALEX LUKEN
here was nothing in Helen Harrigan’s early
life to indicate that she would one day
become the guiding star in the development
of a botanical garden in downtown
Louisville. A passionate gardener and selftaught horticulturalist, Helen grew up as an only child
in the Barret Avenue area of Louisville, in a household
headed by her widowed grandmother, Mary Gretz;
her mother, Elizabeth Gretz Burns; and her mother’s
unmarried siblings. As in most working-class families,
everyone worked and contributed to the family income.
Census records and city directories from 1920 to 1940
list Elizabeth Burns Gretz’s occupation as a cigar maker
for a local tobacconist, first at a firm known as Felix
Colben’s, and later for the Reiss Dabney Cigar Co.
In the mid-1930’s, Helen married Edward Curtis
Harrigan Jr., the only child of Edward Curtis Harrigan
Sr. and Cecilia Baynes. The 1940 census lists the couple
as living in Cincinnati, where Edward was employed
by an auto-body shop. Edward had one son by a prior
marriage, but the couple never had additional children.
Following their return to Louisville in the mid-1940s, the
couple purchased a 20-acre farm on the Outer Loop.
Edward began work at Philip Morris, where he served
as a maintenance engineer until his retirement. A quiet,
solitary man, he was considered mechanically talented,
and solved many operational issues.
On the farm, Helen became passionate about
gardening – first roses, then daylilies. With room to
spread her garden out, she planted 100-foot-long
beds of daylilies, and began experimenting with the
hybridization of daylilies. Although she never registered
or introduced any, she continued to grow her own
hybridized daylilies until just prior to her death in 1999.
The Harrigans lived on their Outer Loop farm until
1974, when they sold the property for the development
of Jefferson Mall, and moved to a charming Colonialstyle home in the Belmar neighborhood, with an
extra-wide lot for her garden beds. She continued her
hybridization beds at their new home, where Edward
built an oversized misting tent in the backyard. Her iris
beds included over 200 varieties, mostly tall bearded
and Siberian.
Serious gardeners who knew Helen speak about her
passion and depth of knowledge about gardening,
and
her willingness
to share plants with fellow garden club
members. A self-taught botanist, she immersed herself
in her passion, and had an extensive personal library
about plants and hybridization. Following the death of
her husband in 1978, her life revolved around garden
clubs and the numerous plant societies to which she
belonged. She belonged first to the Belmar Garden
Club, and following its disbandment, to the Beechmont
Garden Club. When her garden club required members
to learn the art of flower arranging, she did so with
the same passion that she approached hybridization
techniques – for which she became known.
Helen Harrigan was a well-known figure not only in
local gardening circles, but also in state and regional
circles. In addition to her membership in the Belmar
and Beechmont garden clubs, she was a member
of the Flower Arrangers’ Guild, the Rose Society,
the American Hemerocallis Society, the American
Iris Society and the Louisville-Area Iris Society. She
exhibited plants and floral arrangements at area garden
club and plant society shows, the Louisville Home,
Garden & Remodeling Show and the Kentucky State
Fair. She served as an officer in various capacities in the
organizations to which she belonged.
A tireless volunteer, she helped maintain the Rose
Society beds at the state fairgrounds, and planted iris
beds at the Louisville Zoo and at St. Anthony’s Hospital,
where volunteers operated a small greenhouse and
sent new mothers home with a plant as a gift from
the hospital. She also volunteered at the Kentucky
Botanical Garden on Cherokee Road.
INBLOOM FALL 2013 7
In 2006, as a remembrance of her contribution to
gardening, the Louisville Area Iris Society worked with
a Region 7 (Kentucky and Tennessee) iris hybridizer
in Tennessee to hybridize an iris in her memory. The
tall bearded Helen Harrigan iris was developed and
introduced. The bloom is light-blue and silver-gray,
and is a midseason bloomer. The plant is attractive
to bees, butterflies
and birds.
Helen was personally
frugal and thrifty –
sewing her own
clothes, doing her
own home repairs
when possible and
using possessions
for as long as they
had utility. She was
physically active in the
garden until the end of
her life, hopping into
her compost pen to
turn the compost with
a garden fork, turning the soil herself and hauling plants
all over the county in her station wagon. No weed
escaped her watchful eye as she examined her beds
on a daily basis. She spared no expense on her plant
and gardening needs, but paid no attention to her own
personal comforts.
As she wrapped up her affairs at the end of her life, her
attorney was shocked that the modest, unassuming
woman had amassed a sizable estate, spread out
through numerous Louisville banks. Upon her death in
July 1999, Helen left remembrances to the many garden
clubs, plant societies and individuals who shared her
love of gardening through the decades. Helen desired
to make possible a botanical garden with space for
flower and plant shows and for holding classes about
plants, hybridization and training for judging plant and
gardening shows. To that
end, Helen left over $1 million
in trust for the establishment
of a botanical garden, with
Botanica as its beneficiary.
Her endowment has
played a significant role in
Botanica’s current trajectory,
and is helping to make
the Waterfront Botanical
Gardens a possibility.
Botanica’s hope is that
Helen’s legacy will inspire
many other visionaries in
our community to partner
with Botanica to make the
Waterfront Botanical Gardens a
reality. We are thankful for Helen’s generosity, and look
forward to the day that we finally open the gardens
that she so longed to see.
Thanks to Robert Strohman, June Richards, Judy Hunt
and Dot Wade for sharing personal remembrances of
Helen Harrigan. A special thanks to Robert Strohman
for sharing a 1991 Louisville-Area Iris Society newsletter
profile of Helen Harrigan.
Planned Giving – A Commitment to the Future
One great way to support the Waterfront Botanical Gardens is to include Botanica in your estate plans. While
there are several different approaches, one of the simplest is to make a bequest by including a gift to Botanica in
your will. To see the impact that a planned gift can have, look no further than Helen Harrigan. Helen’s gift set the
Waterfront Botanical Gardens project in motion!
If you have any questions about planned giving, or would like to let us know that you’ve included Botanica
in your future plans, please contact Kasey Maier at [email protected] or 502-276-5404.
8
WATERFRONT BOTANICAL GARDENS –
NEXT STEPS BY DOMINIC GRATTO
Views of the Waterfront
Botanical Gardens site.
INBLOOM FALL 2013 9
WHY NOT HERE? A Quick Look at Summer
Fun at the Missouri Botanical Garden BY PEGGY GRANT
As we travel, many of us take the opportunity to
visit the breathtaking botanical gardens that dot
our country’s landscape. We are often left in awe of
the astounding displays, beautiful plants and unique
botanical treasures that we find. To encourage our
imagination to soar as we plan and prepare for the
opening of the Waterfront Botancial Gardens, let’s
look at some of the fun and exciting things we’ve seen
at other botanical gardens. My travels recently had
me in St. Louis, where I visited the Missouri Botanical
Garden, and my visit left me dreaming about the day
that we will have a similarly amazing garden here in
our own city.
This summer, the Missouri Botanical Garden is
featuring Savor Your Summer activities.
Daily activities include:
Celebrity Chef Mondays – Local chefs share culinary
demonstrations, food samples, stories, tips and
favorite recipes.
Herbs and Heirlooms Tuesdays – The St. Louis Herb
Society teaches about different herbs, and sends
participants home with an herb plant and recipe card.
Backyard Kitchen Wednesdays – Visitors
taste-test three unusual plants, and learn how to grow,
harvest and prepare them.
Food-for-All Thursdays – The Garden raises
awareness of local hunger, and collects food donations
for the St. Louis Area Food Bank, entitling visitors to
free admission.
Food of Our Roots Fridays – Visitors experience
some of the food plants of significance from around
the world.
Family Food Saturdays – Families enjoy the Edible
Garden by watering, digging in the soil, playing games
or taste-testing what’s growing.
Spicy Sundays – Features refreshments, concoctions
and edible delights that contain common and not-socommon spices, allowing visitors to guess the secret
spice, enjoy the culinary creation and take home a
recipe card.
Check out all the fun at
missouribotanicalgarden.org.
10
Plant Spotlight: Serviceberry
In the boastful world of horticulture, plants must live up
to their names. The versatile, four-season serviceberry
tree named Autumn Brilliance does just that! Louisvillearea residents have only to pass by the Founders’
Garden at the Heigold House to see the truth of its
name in living color in all four seasons.
The serviceberry’s Latin name, Amelanchier x
grandiflora, only adds to its stature. One of the most
enduring – if erroneous – stories about the tree is that
it was named by early Appalachian settlers at a time
when it was too cold to bury their dead in winter. Early
spring – when the tree was in full flower – was the right
time for the service. Other common names for the tree,
Shadblow or Shadbush, were related to the running of
the shad fish along the East Coast at a time of bloom.
The serviceberry is a great ornamental tree, especially
when we all need a break from winter. In early spring,
it’s covered in showy white flowers. In summer, it
produces bluish-green leaves on an upright plant. In
early summer, the flowers give way to small, round,
BY BOB HILL
green berries that turn red and then purplish-black, and
can be used for jellies and jams. The birds will like them,
too! The incredible fall color on the leaves is a vibrant
orange-red. Winter allows the tree’s light-gray bark to
shine until the white flowers return in the spring.
Autumn Brilliance will get about 15 to 20 feet tall and
wide, takes full sun to part shade, does well in average
soil and requires normal watering. It can be grown as a
single-stem tree or a bushy shrub, has no serious insect
or disease problems and will make a great specimen
tree or part of a shrub border.
The Autumn Brilliance serviceberry tree is growing at
the Heigold House because its native ancestor was
already very popular with the early settlers in the late
1800s, when the house was built. This plant might well
have been a tree found in Louisville gardens 150 years
ago – as it was certainly growing wild in the Eastern
parts of Kentucky. Try Autumn Brilliance in your garden.
There is still time to get one in the ground for its
outstanding production this fall!
INBLOOM FALL 2013 11
THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS
Botanica would like to thank the many individuals, organizations and corporations that support our work.
The list below reflects memberships and donations received from June 1, 2012, through July 31, 2013.
Anonymous (2)
Gregory Abati
Ann Adams
Norma Adams
Margaret Albright
Mary Alexander
Deborah Amerman
Doris Anderson
Melissa Atwell Tong
Audubon Park Garden Club
Kristen Augspurger and
Jason Loehr
Claire Badaracco
Mette Bahde
Maude Baker
Richard Barter
Mary Jane Beale
Thomas Beck
Harlan and Ann
Beckemeyer
Beechmont Garden Club
Aline Blizard
Janice Blythe
Karen and Don Bohannon
Emily Boone
Heather Brandt
Susan and John Brasch
Brasch Constructors Inc.
Ted Bressoud
Brightside
Daniel Broadstone
Brad and Carla Sue
Broecker
Beth Brokaw
Joyce Brown
Mark Brown
Brown-Forman Corp.
Margaret Browning
Michael Brumit
Morgan Brush
Greg Buccola
John Buchenberger
Warren Buckler
Michael Bueno
Mike and Katie Bush
Wendy Butler
John Callaway
D.T. and Coletta Campbell
Wm Pfingst and
Ann Carrell
Ellen Carrithers
Carmen and Gordon Carter
Cheri Casey
Sharon Cashon
Sara Celello
Melinda Childress
Jean Christensen
Clifton Community Council
Margaret Conard
Cynthia Cooke
Victoria Costello
Martha Davis
Daylily Society of Louisville
Karen DeGaris
Susana Devoto and Rodolfo
Rodriguez
Charles Dorenkott
Robert and Mary Drees
Steve and Kathie Eggers
Paul Embry
Lori and Jeffrey Erk
Elaine Esterle
Paula and Greg Evans
Richard and Bonnie Fellows
Jay and Dana Ferguson
Thomas and Caroline
Ferreri
Fifth Third Bank
Stephanie Finn
Trisha Finnegan
Phyllis Fitzgerald
John Fogarty
Garry and Tyrena Foley
Peter Fotos
Mary Gates
Anthony and Judy George
Gary and Kathryn Gerlach
Cole Gilbert
Yvonne Gillespiero
Marie Goodwin
Emil and Nancy Graeser
Kathleen Graeser
Peggy Grant
Dominic and Ashley Gratto
Orbin Greene
Susan Greenwell
Kate Greer
David and Marlene Grissom
Rebecca Guthrie
Charles Gutterman
Judy Haenisch
John and Kitty Hamilton
Patricia Hampton
Libby Hancock
Patricia and Chris Haragan
Frederic Harned
John and Natalie Harris
Mary Ellen Harris
Whitney and Brady Harris
Alison Hawthorne
John Heazlitt
Elizabeth Helton
Valerie Hicks
Hidden Hill Nursery
Janet and Bob Hill
Casey Hinkle
Steven Holbrook
Suzanne Hornung
Hostas of Kentuckiana
Carl Hulsewede
Richard and Joan Humke
Judith and Dean Hunt
William and Janette
Hutchison
Handel Jack
Jeffcoe Garden Club
Jeffersontown Garden Club
Richard Johnson
David Julius
Marcia Jumblatt
John Kampschaefer
Robert and Emily Keisler
Keith and Francoise Kemble
Kentucky Orchid Society
Mike Kimmel
Ken and Margaret
Kinberger
Kelly and Jody Kirwan
Sharon Klosterman
Dee and Garrard Kramer
James and Joan Kuhns
Susan Kute
Martha Lamkin
Lawnco LLC
Charlene Lawwill
Becky Lee
Mark Lee
Bernard Leeds
Louisville Area Daylily
Society
Louisville-Area Iris Society
Louisville Metro
Government
Alexandra Luken
Lynn Luking
Ann MacDonald Ross
Miriam Mann
Robin and Tim Mann
Bob and Bo Manning
John and Patricia Marcum
Reed and Jan Martin
Sue Massey
M. Louise McCabe
Maggie McCarthy
Nancy and Doug McFarland
Carol Meade
Connie Meredith
Jennifer Merrick
Eleanor Miller
Larry Miller and Michael
Hanks
Jennifer McMinn
John Morgan
Allan and Nancy Morris
Michelle Mullennex
Munchkin Nursery &
Gardens
Mary Myers
Donna Nistler
Jodi and Mike Noble
Thomas P. O’Brien III
Mary Beth O’Bryan and
Steve Clements
Tandee Ogburn
Laura Padgett
Leslie Pancratz
Jacque Parsley
Past Presidents’ Leadership
Club
Elzie Peacock
Stephanie Perras
Judith and Robert
Pessolano
Alexandra Piasecki
Poe Companies
Rita Reedy
Lora Rice
June Richards
Yvonne Rickard
Teresa and Brian Riggs
David Robinson
Marge Robison
Dennis Rollins
Daniel and Lisa Rolston
Mary Roman
Jane Ross
Mary Rounsavall
Colleen Ryan
Julie Ryan
Burnett Sanders II
Sharon Sandlin
Sharmille Anne Sawyer
Paul Scaglione
Bill and Chris Schardein
Amanda and William
Schmitt
Brenda Scott
Sea Ray of Louisville
George and Kay Sherrard
Janet Shumate
Mary Ann and John Smith
Nick and Lesa Smith
Southern Indiana Botanical
Society
Bert and Connie Sparrow
Lee and Linda Squires
Michael Stephens
Charles and Porter Stevens
Micah Stevens
Constance Story
Gene Stotz
Lelia Sublett
Angela and Lloyd Taipalus
Bonnie Taylor
Joan Taylor and Greg
Litaker
Steve and Loretta Traw
David and Sue Vislisel
Diane Voelker
Brian Voelker and Chris
Padgett
Paula Voelker and Nathan
Curtis
Bill and Lauri Wade
Dorothy Wade
James Walters
Elizabeth Watkins
Porter Watkins and George
Bailey
Jim Watson and Ann Blum
Robert Webb
John Weinrich
Bobby and Amy Weiter
Alice Wells
Janine Whitis
Larry and Carole Whitledge
Dr. Albin and Katie
Whitworth
David Wicks
Carol and Tony Williams
Donald and Rose Marie
Williams
Jim and Janice Wilson
Ken and Carolyn Wilson
Windy Hills Garden Club
Joan Wipperman
Bonny and Rob Wise
Robert Wise
Mildred Worley
Jesse and Susanne Wright
Patt and Glenn Wuest
Kathy and Sam Yerrid
Martha Ziskind
We make every effort
to ensure that our
supporter list is accurate
and up-to-date. If you see
an error, please contact us
at 502-276-5404 or
info@waterfront gardens.org.
FALL 2013
N e w s f o r t h e f r i e n d s o f B OT A N I C A
P.o. Box 5056
Louisville, Ky 40255-0056
NON-PROFIT ORG
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
LOUISVILLE KY
PERMIT #879
JOIN US FOR OUR ANNUAL MEMBER MEETING
F e aturi ng Guest Speaker
PETER RAVEN
Botanist, Environmentalist and President Emeritus
of the Missouri Botanical Garden
Wednesday, Oct. 23, at Locust Grove
5:30-6:30 p.m. – Cocktail reception
6:30-7:30 p.m. – Speaker program
561 Blankenbaker Lane, Louisville, KY 40207
Space is limited. Event is free for members, $10 for nonmembers.
RSVP to 502-276-5404 or [email protected].